IdeaPad Z Series Stay Slim, Pack Dedicated NVIDIA GPU

Rounding out the new IdeaPad notebooks, Lenovo brings the IdeaPad Z series to consumers with a 25% thinner design than the company’s G series without commanding a premium price.

The new IdeaPad Z series are configurable up to an Intel Core i7 3rd generation processor with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. Lenovo offers up to a NVIDIA GeForce GT 645M GPU with 2GB of RAM.

The IdeaPad Z400 and IdeaPad Z500 come with 14-inch and 15-inch screens, both of which use 1366 x 768 resolution. The IdeaPad Z500 is 25.4mm thick and the IdeaPad Z400 is 26mm thick.

The new IdeaPad Z500 notebook arrives in September.

Lenovo will ship both of these notebooks with Windows 8, and equips the new Z series with its “intelligent Touchpad”, which the company says is optimized for the new Windows 8 interface with, “easyscroll, zoom and rotate functions.” The keyboard on the Z series is backlit, for easier use n low light situations, not a common feature for sub $600 notebooks.

The IdeaPad Z notebooks include Dolby Home Theater v4, a sound solution that delivers better than average sound rom notebooks speakers. The Z400 and Z500 include a 720P webcam for video chat and the choice of a DVD drive or Blu-Ray drive.

IdeaPad Z500 Specs

The IdeaPad Z400 will be available November 2012 starting at US$549 and the IdeaPad Z500 will ship in September 2012 starting at US$549.

The IdeaPad Z series join the new IdeaPad Y series notebooks, which offer multimedia chops and a bay that allows users to switch between graphics, storage and a fan. Lenovo also announced the IdeaPad U510, an Ultrabook with a 15.6-inch display.